Happy Chinese New Year

Kinnell’s Birthday!

Kinnell’s first trip to the dentist

Christmas in Nova Scotia:

At the garden at Raimi’s school:

School trip to the Aquarium:

Hanging out in Cambridge with cousins Max & Jack:

At Grandma’s house around Thanksgiving:

Hanging out with Wyatt and Owen (Kevin’s godson!)

Happy holidays!

First day of First Grade:

Kinnell & I stay home:

and pick up Raimi after school. This day we brought a lollipop from the bank:

Raimi & Ruby waiting endlessly for the Carnival parade to come by:

Kinnell is really good at puzzles these days:

Danielle visits Boston…

…and we all head to Salem

“Raimi, are these guys scary? Are they scary, Raimi?”i?”

“Salvation Army?” asked Raimi

Sometimes I can read his mind and knew he was concerned about what kind of Army might be in the neighborhood.

“They help the poor and people who are homeless. They do good work because they care about people, but it’s called ‘Salvation Army’ because they are also fighting to ’save’ people by making more people become Christians.’” I explained.

“Which they SHOULD NOT do,” Raimi said firmly.

“Why?” I asked. He looked startled like maybe he said the wrong thing. So I clarified, “I mean, I agree with you – people should be whatever religion they want to be. But why do you say that?”

“Because being Christian isn’t the best thing in the world,” he said.

“So what IS the best thing in the world?” I asked.

He answered, “Love.”

Roof-top park in Kendall Square:

Museum in Worcester, MA:

Kinnell comes prepared for anything when he rides the T

Visiting cousins Max and Jack and experiencing the Bay of Fundy:

Exploring the museums and shops of Halifax:

Me: So, how do you like Cambridge these days? Still Medium?

Raimi: Yeah, it will always be medium because I miss our old home.

Me: I miss it too. I like both places…. although there are things I DON’T like about Cambridge.

Raimi (big smile): like what?

Me: Like it’s so crowded. Sometimes I like that there’s always something going on, but other times I don’t like that it’s so crowded. And parking is a PAIN.

Raimi: YEAH! I don’t like that it’s so crowded. Also, something I don’t like is when you’re driving and the other drivers are being bad drivers and you say bad words. Because, it makes me mad too.

Me: Mad at me or at the other drivers?

Raimi: At the other drivers.

Me: I’ll try to keep cool and do a better job of not saying bad words. Does that sound good?

Raimi: Yeah.

Me: Something I LIKE about Cambridge is the River. And the ocean. And being so close to Grandma. Do you like that?

Raimi: Yeah. But I know something you DON’T like, and that’s being so far from your mom.

Me: Yeah, I miss her. That’s true. It was a really hard decision to move here.

Raimi: If someday I had to make a hard decision about whether to move, I would just think about it longer, and I would just stay where I was, because I loved it so much.

Me: Do you wish things wouldn’t change?

Raimi: (thinks a minute) Well… but if there wasn’t any change, that wouldn’t be very good for the Earth. Like, the world wouldn’t last very long. Because if people didn’t have babies, they would die and there wouldn’t be more people, and so we wouldn’t last for very long.

Me: So change is part of life.

Raimi: Yeah.

Me: Raimi, did you know that there are philosophers and Zen masters who spend their whole lives thinking about what you just said, about how change is a part of life?

Raimi: (big smile) I did not know that.